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Published 18:35 IST, November 17th 2019

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen announces ex-premier as running mate for elections

Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese President has named the former premier William Lai as her running mate for the upcoming 2020 elections

Reported by: Pragya Puri
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Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese President has named the former premier William Lai as the running mate for the upcoming 2020 elections. William Lai, previously has supported the formal independence of the island against Beijing’s intervention. William Lai accepted the nomination and told international media that he is ready to enlighten the world with the idea of democracy and freedom and to show the way to Hong Kong.

Quest to Democracy

After Tsai announced the name of her running mate, Taiwan’s Wu said that China sought to intervene in the elections and that would shift the campaign to high gear. He further wrote in his tweet that the voters will support Taiwan’s quest for democracy and say ‘NO’ to China while voting their representative. 

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READ: Taiwan's Opposition Selects Ex-Google Executive To Run For Elections

Lai stands for Taiwan’s democracy and independence 

William Lai, was the former premier until January 2019. He resigned from his position to be held accountable for the defeat in regional elections held in November 2018, for the Democratic Progressive Party which was then in power. Lai, in 2018 had clearly established his stand and said that he was Taiwan’s independence worker and for him that Taiwan is a sovereign, independent country. On the other hand, after the announcement, one of the Chinese media asked the Government to issue an arrest warrant to face legal proceedings under China’s 2005 Anti-Secession Law. Lai after accepting the candidature said that Taiwan should take a stand against China and at the same time pave way for Hong Kong, which is facing the aggression of the anti-government protests. He posed various strong questions demanding support for independent Taiwan and seek unity and strength, at the same time put pressure on China. 

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READ: China Defence Minister: Taiwan Question Is A National Priority

Pro-China Party selected an Ex-Google executive for upcoming elections

The Opposition Party which is pro-China has selected an Ex-Google executive as their candidate to run for the upcoming Presidential in Taiwan. According to the reports, the elections are scheduled to be held early next year. Chang San-cheng, former Google executive joined the Nationalist Party on November 11. Chang San-cheng, who was earlier running for the Presidential elections as an independent candidate joined hands with the Nationalist Party candidate Han Kuo-yu on November 11. According to the polls, Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party is in the lead, followed by Han Kuo-yu of the Democratic Party. Chang San-cheng has received his master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford and Cornell universities in the United States. He is an engineer, who earlier worked for Google. He worked as a search engine Google’s head of the technology department in Asia from the year 2010 -2012

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READ: Hong Kong: Murder Suspect Who Sparked Protests To Surrender In Taiwan

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(With inputs from agencies)

16:11 IST, November 17th 2019